Assignment 7

French I: Assignment 7
Voilà vos devoirs pour le 23 octobre :
• Practice saying the French [p] and [b] sounds (tracks 9 and 10). You can review these sounds
using the explanation in this assignment.
• Continue to review the spelling rules for French vowels from Assignments 2–5.
• Practice saying the following verse (track 30). Be able to write or recite it from memory.
Car nous marchons par la foi et non par la vue.
(2 Corinthiens 5.7)
• Do pages 6–9 of Oral Masteries as often as necessary until you can do them without hesitation.
• If necessary, review the uses of the present tense as given in the textbook (page 81).
• Review the vocabulary and grammar summaries in this assignment.
• Identify any weak areas you have in grammar or vocabulary, and review and ask questions if
necessary. You may want to practice writing out all conjugations (avoir, être, -er verbs) from
memory. A good way to practice vocabulary is to both write and say (carefully – know which
vowels you are using!) the French word from looking at the English.
• Complete and hand in the composition described in Assignment 6. You may send me
questions by email on Tuesday (October 21) or before.
Common words and phrases
très
trɛ
very
beaucoup
boku
a lot
porter
pɔrte
to wear
trouver
truve
to find
Verbs
Assignment 7
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Nouns
(une) robe
rɔb
dress, gown
(un) sac
sak
bag, purse
(un) sac à dos
sakado
backpack
(un) parapluie
paraplɥi
umbrella
(une) cravate
kravat
necktie
(une) écharpe
eʃarp
scarf
(une) chemise
ʃəәmiz
shirt
(un) chemisier
ʃəәmizje
blouse
(une) jupe
ʒyp
skirt
(un) pantalon
pɑ̃talɔ̃
pair of pants (trousers)
(le) cache-cache
kaʃkaʃ
hide-and-seek
jeune
ʒœn
young
âgé, âgée
aʒe
old, elderly
content, contente
kɔ̃tɑ̃ kɔ̃tɑ̃t
pleased, happy, content
heureux, heureuse
œrø œrøz
happy, lucky
premier, première
prəәmje prəәmjɛr
first
dernier, dernière
dɛrnje dɛrnjɛr
last
blasé, blasée
blaze
blasé
Adjectives
Assignment 7
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French consonants: Stops
In French, the difference between [p] and [b] is that [b] is voiced, while [p] is unvoiced. “Voiced”
means that a sound is pronounced with the vocal chords vibrating. Here are some ways of learning
what this means:
• You can sing a pitch on a voiced sound, but not on an unvoiced sound.
• Vowels in English are all voiced.
• When you whisper, all your sounds are unvoiced.
• Vision is pronounced the same as fission, except that all the consonants are voiced.
Again, in French, voicing forms the main contrast between p and b.
“Aspiration” is the puff of air that follows certain consonants. In English, the letter p is aspirated at
the beginning of a word and at the beginning of a stressed syllable (such as in peck or depends). We
can write this as [pʰ]. It is not aspirated before a weak syllable or after the letter s, so the p in speck
and the second p in pepper are not aspirated – they are the same as in French, plain [p].
So in English, aspiration also makes p and b contrast. As a result, we can afford to pronounce b as
what’s really an unaspirated [p] – it still contrasts with p [pʰ]. Even though it’s not voiced, we hear it
as a b because it’s not aspirated.
This means that you need to be careful about two things:
• French p is not aspirated; it is always [p]. This means it might sound like English b.
• French b is always voiced [b]. This means you need to take care not to let it be unvoiced (as
can happen in English), since then it would sound like French p.
•
Some terminology if you are interested: A stop is a consonant that completely blocks airflow through
the mouth, and then releases suddenly. The sounds [p b t d k ɡ] are all stops. More specifically,
they are oral stops. There are also nasal stops: the sounds [n m ŋ] all block airflow through the
mouth (making them stops), but allow airflow through the nose (making them nasal).
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